Vineland Estates Winery
Visiting family in Ontario this August meant staying near the Niagara Peninsula for a few weeks. It was time enough to tour the area and check out some of the wineries, not only the ones I was familiar with (prior to 2005) but also a selection of newer winery arrivals. Like BC, the number of wineries has ballooned since the arrival of Free Trade and with it, vinifera plantings and wine quality. Although BC leads with a greater number of wineries (approximately 300 to 200), Ontario boasts nearly double the acreage under vine (over 17,000 acres to 10,500).
High on my winery bucket list were those I could identify in which the winemaker also has a significant connection to the Okanagan. Seeking out the interprovincial movers and shakers of Canadian winemaking, I started at Vineland Estates, the venerable winery situated high on Twenty Mile Bench, a sub-appellation within the Niagara Escarpment Regional Appellation. Vineland (the winery not the village) emerged from a demonstration vineyard planted in 1979 by Hermann Weis, a nurseryman and winemaker from Germany’s Mosel region who was determined to prove Riesling could thrive despite harsh Canadian winters. He succeeded and the vineyard became the cornerstone of Vineland Estates. Enter Allan Schmidt as winemaker in 1987 followed four years later by his younger brother Brian. Born and raised in Kelowna, both belong to one of the pioneering families of the Okanagan wine industry. Early in his career, their father Lloyd managed historic Beau Séjour vineyard in Mission and later became a founding partner (with Harry McWatters) of Sumac Ridge in Summerland, before moving to Ontario with his family in 1988. He applied his extensive grape growing expertise to sourcing grape vines for nurseries and advising growers on grape variety and root stock selection and suitability for the soil conditions. He passed away in Grimsby, Ontario in February 4, 2019.
Today, the Schmidt brothers continue the family tradition at Vineland Estates with Allan as president and Brian, the winemaker since 1993. They oversee one of Niagara’s most charming and picturesque properties, the 42 acre, escarpment-based St. Urban Vineyard which showcases the Weis 21 Riesling clone first planted in 1979 by Hermann Weis. It surrounds a collection of carefully restored, 19th century, stone farm buildings, an old Mennonite estate dating back to the 1840s. Bo-Teek is Vineland’s other significant vineyard, a 65 acre site also on the escarpment. “Twenty Mile Bench on the Niagara Escarpment brings the unique, convection-warming effect from Lake Ontario.” Brian says. “It also allows for natural drainage of water and air, and the Bench signature concentration of citrus fruit and acidity.” Under their tutelage, the winery has grown from 5,000 cases a year in 1991 to as high as 61,000 cases in recent years. “Our sweet spot is 50,000 cases with the focus on Riesling and Cabernet Franc,” says Brian. “Bottom line,” he adds, “we’re the current caretakers of the vineyard known as the epicentre of Riesling in Canada.”
Canada's first Pellenc de-stemmer and optical sorter.
The most dramatic and consequential change took place in 2014 when Vineland acquired Canada’s first Pellenc de-stemmer and optical sorter for a cool half million dollars. It uses cameras and infrared lights to discern ripeness of berries (apparently all red) based on colour, size and shape through a series of programs, then removes the petioles with 99 grooves and individualized nozzles. It boasts high sorting quality for large flow rates of 10-14 tons per hour. “It is a game-changer for providing better quality fruit even in the entry-level category at lower cost, and provides control of what goes into the fermentation tank,” Brian explains. “Making it available to other wineries who bring the fruit to Vineland for destemming and sorting helps to defray the machine’s high initial costs.” It is coming to other wineries in Canada in short order.
Best of Vineland: 2017 Elevation St. Urban Riesling, Niagara Escarpment is a classic Mosel-style Riesling, slightly off-dry, crisp and clean with nuances of green apple, slate, honey and lime; 2017 Bo-Teek Pinot Meunier, Twenty Mile Bench is unusual in that Meunier is rarely seen on a label. Made from one of the three Champagne varieties, it is the epitome of fun times, pale, fresh, lively with bright, round cassis, cherry and raspberry flavours; 2016 Elevation Bo-Teek Cabernet, Niagara Escarpment is a richly-structured blend of 77% Cabernet Franc and 23% Cabernet Sauvignon. It exudes supple blackcurrant with hints of cedar, dark chocolate, coffee bean and limestone backed by round, ripe, chalky tannins; 2016 Bo-Tek Cabernet Franc, Twenty Mile Bench, made from Vineland’s oldest Cabernet Franc clone, is elegant, muscular, concentrated, and delivers lovely, warm flavours of black berry, espresso bean and blackcurrant jam.
At Southbrook Organic Vineyards, East Kelowna native Ann Sperling signed on as Director of Winemaking and Viticulture in 2006. Hiring Sperling, a strong biodynamic advocate, was a coup for owner Bill Redelmeier. A farmer to his core, he was planning an expansion of the vineyard and construction of a winery and associated hospitality pavilion, which opened in 2008. Based in Niagara-on-the-Lake, on the Four Mile Creek sub-appellation, it rests on a broad plain that stretches from the Escarpment to the fast-flowing Niagara River and experiences a higher daily temperature range and earlier spring warming. Billing itself as Canada’s first certified organic and biodynamic winery, Southbrook’s entire 150 vineyard is certified organic by Pro-Cert Canada, one of its 75 acre vineyards is Demeter-certified biodynamic, the other 75 acres carries full biodynamic status. The hospitality pavilion became the first winery building to receive the Gold level of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental design) in 2008.
Southbrook Winery
The first winery building to receive the Gold level of LEED in 2008.
Sperling’s career started at Andrès Wines in Port Moody in 1984, after graduating from UBC with a food sciences degree. Following a four-year stint at Cedar Creek, she left for Niagara in 1995, becoming the initial winemaker at Malivoire, a small innovative winery, before joining Southbrook. With winemaker husband Peter Gamble, they have also purchased a vineyard in Argentina’s Mendoza region, making a wine called Vesado from 120-year-old Malbec vines.
Through her mother Velma, Ann is a member of the Casorso clan, arguably Kelowna’s first family of the vine. Ann’s great grandfather Giovanni Casorso arrived from Italy in 1883 and worked as an agricultural specialist for Father Pandosy’s Oblate Mission. In 1929, two of Giovanni’s sons, Pete and Louis, planted the 45-acre vineyard on Casorso Road, which now supplies the family-owned Sperling Vineyards with Maréchal Foch, Riesling and other vinifera varieties. In 2009, she realized her dream of making wine from the grapes grown in the family vineyard when she launched Sperling Vineyards.
At Southbrook, Sperling produces a range of wines of impressive quality such as: 2018 Syrah Rosé, Four Mile Creek is floral, lively and virtually dry, brimming with flavours suggesting grapefruit, watermelon and strawberry; 2016 Poetica Chardonnay, Four Mile Creek features bold, steely flavours of juicy apple, smoky oak and vanilla spice; 2017 Wild Ferment Chardonnay, Niagara Escarpment delivers creamy expressions of freshly-baked croissant, succulent apricot and apple, toast oak and refreshing acidity; 2016 Estate Petit Verdot, Four Mile Creek, is classic example of this variety made from grapes grown on the warmest sites. The palate suggests distinct blackberry fruit and cedar hints with ripe, finely-textured tannins; 2015 Red Poetica, Four Mile Creek consists of 72% Cabernet Franc and 28% Petit Verdot. Deep, dark, concentrated, it serves up sweet, spicy cassis, blackberry, plum, black licorice, pepper and smoke with lively acidity and chalky tannins; 2018 Skin Fermented Vidal Orange Wine, Four Mile Creek is a funky beast; bone dry with riveting flavours of tropical fruit, apricot peel and honey spiked with yeasty lees and squeezed lemon.
All wines are certified organic and biodynamic and suitable for vegans and vegetarians.
A major player in both Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula and the Okanagan Valley, Bruce Nicholson reigns as chief winemaker at Inniskillin Wines in Niagara-on-the-Lake. It is a position he was offered in 2007 after a 20-year stint in BC, starting as assistant winemaker at Casabello Wines in Penticton. After Casabello closed in 1994, he moved to what was then Brights winery near Oliver, and when it was taken over by Vincor in 1996 and, after dramatic expansion and modernization, transformed into Jackson-Triggs, he became the senior winemaker, earning a reputation for creating award-winning, single vineyard, VQA wines.
Inniskillin
The picnic area at Inniskillin is popular with tourists and locals alike during the Spring through Fall wine tour season.
Born and raised in the Niagara Region, transferring to Inniskillin meant returning home to parents and siblings. Established in 1975 as Ontario’s first licensed, commercial winery since
prohibition, today's Braeburn Vineyard winery, situated along the Niagara Parkway, has been enlarged and streamlined for production of 200,000 cases of Icewine and table wine a year and hosting countless visitors. By far the largest producer of Icewine in Canada, Inniskillin relies heavily on the stalwart, thick-skinned hybrid, Vidal Blanc. But it has taken the genre to another level with such sublime examples as the ultra-refined, concentrated 2017 Gold Vidal Icewine aged four months in new French oak; 2017 Niagara River Cabernet Sauvignon Icewine, Klose Vineyard with richly complex flavours of toffee, dried plum and cherry; and a Sparkling Cabernet Franc Icewine redolent of raspberry, strawberry and rhubarb jam. Table wines tasted include 2018 Discovery Series Niagara-on-the-Lake P3, a vivacious assemblage of Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio and Pinot Blanc; creamy, toasty 2017 Four Mile Creek Chardonnay, Montague Vineyard; and 2017 Four Mile Creek Pinot Noir, Montague Vineyard with flavours suggesting ripe plums and cherries, beetroot, chocolate and vanilla.